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PHILADELPHIA - Brown University has announced Mike Martin as its new head coach of men's basketball. Martin, a Brown alum, has been an assistant coach with the Penn men's basketball program for the past six seasons. The announcement was made and a press conference introducing him was held in Providence on Friday, June 1.

"I am extremely happy for Mike and his family; his hiring is a well-deserved," said Penn's John R. Rockwell Head Coach of Men's Basketball, Jerome Allen. "Mike has done the University of Pennsylvania a great service for the last six years, and it is only right that he get the opportunity to run his own program. As I have learned the last three years, it is a special opportunity to oversee a program that you once played in, and I know that Mike will embrace that opportunity at Brown. With the exception of two times each season, I wish Mike nothing but the best of success."

"I am thankful to everyone at Penn for the last six years," said Martin. "I have learned a lot about myself, about the coaching profession, and about the Ivy League during my time here. The incredible support for the Penn program from alumni, administrators, and the Philadelphia community makes it a special program. It is bittersweet for me to leave Penn -- especially Jerome, Dan and the current players -- but I am thrilled with the opportunity to lead my alma mater's basketball program."

Martin originally came to Penn as an assistant coach under Glen Miller prior to the 2006-07 season. The Quakers were Ivy League champions during that first season under Miller. However, an even better coaching job by Martin and the rest of the staff may have come in 2007-08, when Penn fielded by far the youngest and most inexperienced team in the league but went 8-6 in the Ancient Eight to finish third.

A head coaching change occurred midway through the 2009-10 season, as Allen replaced Miller, but Martin was retained. The program has seen an uptick in fortunes since then. The Quakers improved their overall record by seven games and their Ivy mark by two games from 2009-10 to 2010-11. This past season, Penn once again made a major surge forward, reaching 20 wins overall for the first time since 2006-07 and finishing second in the Ivy League at 11-3, one game behind Harvard in the standings. Penn then played in the postseason College Basketball Invitational, defeating Quinnipiac in the opening round before falling to Butler in the quarterfinal round.

Martin has helped recruit and mentor some of the Ivy League's top players during his time at Penn. Most prominently, Zack Rosen was a unanimous pick by the Ancient Eight coaches as the 2011-12 Ivy League Player of the Year and was one of 10 finalists nationally for the prestigious Lowe's Senior CLASS Award. He was a three-time first-team All-Ivy pick and graduates as the program's all-time assist leader. Rosen and another recruit during Martin's tenure, Tyler Bernardini, were Philadelphia Big 5 Rookie of the Year selections -- the first two in program history -- and Bernardini was also the Ivy League Rookie of the Year in 2007-08. Another recruit in the Martin era, Jack Eggleston, was an All-Ivy and All-Big 5 selection during his career.